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Impromptu, S191ii

Introduction

The Impromptu, has a second version, curiously entitled Nocturne, but the changes are slight, and, frankly, do not improve upon the original score which is recorded here. One of a number of isolated pieces which Liszt composed for his friend, the Baroness von Meyendorff, the Impromptu stands on the threshold of the extraordinary avant-garde world of Liszt’s final years, and, although the piece is cast in F sharp, there is a colourful ambiguity in some of the harmonic movement.

Recordings

'A highly distinguished release' (Gramophone)'The sheer quantity of music on offer may be impressive but the quality of the playing is even more remarkable, warmly sympathetic and, where necessar ...» More

Leslie Howard’s recordings of Liszt’s complete piano music, on 99 CDs, is one of the monumental achievements in the history of recorded music. Remarkable as much for its musicological research and scholarly rigour as for Howard’s Herculean piano p ...» More